BORACAY – Agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol urged the Ati community in Barangay Manoc-manoc to turn their 2.1-hectare ancestral domain into an agri-tourism site.
“We want to uplift their lives from poverty and provide them access to government interventions,” Piñol said as he urged the natives to get into agribusiness.
Indigenous peoples and women’s groups in the island may avail themselves of P2 million in financial support through the Agriculture department’s “Survival Recovery” loan program, Piñol said.
Forty-five Ati families and 32 other households may get P25,000 cash each. They may use the amount in setting up a “sustainable community livelihood.”
“Aside from that, we also offer P5,000 up to P50,000 financing with only six-percent interest every year under the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program,” he explained.
Moreover, the Agriculture department and the Agricultural Training Institute vowed to assist the natives in setting up an organic vegetable garden.
Gardening tools – sprinklers, UV films, spading forks, spades, plastic drums, ginger planting materials, and assorted vegetable seeds – were delivered to the island.
Piñol further said the department will put up two solar-powered greenhouse facilities for the organic vegetable production. He said he also wanted to establish a dairy goat farm in Manoc-manoc.
The farm produce may be supplied to an organic restaurant – the proposed name is “Tumandok Eatery” – that will offer tourists organically grown, indigenous dishes, the department said.
Moreover, Piñol suggested the construction of “Baeay Palahuwayan,” a tribal-designed hostel with at least 20 rooms, and an agricultural training center. (With a report from Department of Agriculture Region 6/PN)
